Gospel Swamp: A legacy of religion in Fountain Valley

All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley, built in 1903, is the oldest church in the city. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A Sunday morning at the United Methodist Church in the 1970s. COURTESY DENNIS OLSON

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The original buildings on the United Methodist Church in the late 1960s. COURTESY OF DENNIS OLSON

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A pillow with a biblical verse sits on one of the pews at All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley. The church, built in 1903 is the oldest church in the city. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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B'nai Tzedek, the first Jewish synagogue in Fountain Valley, came to the city in the late 1976, but did not yet have to money to build a temple, so they gathered at the United Methodist Church on Bushard Street. To this day, a Mazuzah hangs in the doorway of the rabbi's office there. COURTESY OF DENNIS OLSON

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All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley, built in 1903 is the oldest church in the city. The church went throuhg major renovations in the 1970's and had the stained glass windows added. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Baptism room at All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley, built in 1903 is the oldest church in the city. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley, built in 1903, is the oldest church in the city. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A newly completed mural on the wall of the All Saints Anglican Church in Fountain Valley. The church, built in 1903 is the oldest church in the city. SAM GANGWER, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Signs on the property of the United Methodist Church, which allowed congregations of different denominations use their buildings while they raised money to create their own churches. COURTESY DENNIS OLSON

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Courreges Ranch. Located at Talbert Rd. and Newland St. about 1909. Home of Roch and Magdalena (Mogart) Courreges. COURTESY OF THE CITY OF FOUNTAIN VALLEY

In the late 1800s, he was a Baptist preacher in the Lower Santa Ana Valley, which is composed of parts of Westminster, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach and all of Fountain Valley. But his existence is now condensed to a few passing references in history books and essays – all several decades old, at least.

Walter B. Tedford, one of Santa Ana's first settlers, wrote an essay for the 1931 tome "Orange County History Series, Volume 1," in which he says, "The Rev. Hickey would frequently hold meetings at his or some neighbor's house where the people would gather for service."

"A Hundred Years of Yesterdays: A Centennial History of the People of Orange County and Their Communities," first published in 1988, identifies Hickey as one of a number of "squatters" on the Rancho Las Bolsas. The second edition of the book, released in 2004, adds some depth, calling him a "preacher well-known for his fiery sermons."

That, it seems, is the historical memory of the Rev. Isaac Hickey.

Yet, whoever Hickey was – and however popular he was as a preacher – he represents one of a number of now-nameless revivalist preachers who once scattered across the Lower Santa Ana Valley, raising massive tents, shouting hallelujahs and preaching the word of God. And those preachers, in turn, now represent the historical legacy of religion in this once-thriving farming community. The area was once so defined by its residents' connection to religion that it became known as Gospel Swamp.

And even though the fire-and-brimstone evangelicals and the lush farmland have all but disappeared, Gospel Swamp is one of those rare historical quirks that, historians and church leaders say, remain relevant today. That is because with more than 25 houses of worship (including a Jewish temple and a mosque) in its 9 square miles, Fountain Valley, the last part of the Lower Santa Ana Valley to develop, in many ways is still a deeply religious community.

"Fountain Valley was founded as a farming town," said the Rev. John McFarland of United Methodist Church on Bushard Street. "Farmers are traditionally very religious. When crops are your livelihood, you tend to pray a lot."

Across the street from McFarland's church is a structure of living history: All Saints Anglican Church. In 1898, Tom Talbert purchased a portion of land from the Rancho Las Bolsas to build a church. In 1903, according to Dann Gibb, a member of the Fountain Valley Historical Society, it was deeded to the Methodist Church South.

The church became part of the town's city center, along with a general store, blacksmith shop and bar.

The Methodist church thrived for a while, Gibb said, but as the town grew and the automobile became the primary mode of transportation, residents began going to the more established Greenville Church northeast of town.

"The church fell on hard times and closed," Gibb said. "But it was still used by the itinerant preachers who would hold revival meetings there."

By the time the church received a new official congregation, the Episcopal Church in 1974, Fountain Valley was brimming with churches of all denominations. In the 1920s, a church also opened in the Mexican neighborhood Colonia Juarez on what is now Warner Avenue, as did the Wintersburg Presbyterian Church, located in what is now part of Huntington Beach. The 1930s even saw the creation of a Buddhist temple.

"This was a strong farming community as opposed to a business-oriented city," said John Creel, a sub-deacon of All Saints Anglican Church. "Farming families tend to be very tight-knit. They read the Bible at dinner."

Even after the town incorporated in 1957 and the vast farmland gave way to residential neighborhoods, the community's adherence to religion remained.

Dennis and Karen Olson moved to Fountain Valley in the early 1960s and were charter members of United Methodist Church, which opened in 1964. They met and fell in love at Iowa State University, where Dennis studied engineering and Karen studied home economics.

They have seen Fountain Valley grow and change over the years, but the religious presence has not changed all that much.

"As the farming went away, many people moved here from the Midwest for aerospace and engineering," Dennis Olson said. "So they weren't farmers, but they were the children of farmers from small towns. This city still feels like a small town."

And now, virtually every denomination – and every religion – has a presence in Fountain Valley: Chinese Baptists on Brookhurst Street, a Korean Presbyterian church on Starfish, Jehovah's Witnesses on Los Jardines East and a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Bushard Street.

"The identity of a community doesn't change much," McFarland said. "It's very hard. This was a farming community. You continue to see that mentality here. It's a very faith-based community."

JEWISH SERVICE AT CHRISTIAN CHURCH

In 1976, a new Jewish congregation formed in Fountain Valley. It had everything a new temple needed – a committed group of followers, religious leaders – except a place to call its own.

Essentially homeless, the congregation sought a place to hold its services. They found the welcoming arms of the United Methodist Church, a Christian denomination.

"We're here for the community," said pastor John McFarland. "We welcomed them into our church because we had the room and we wanted to help any way we could."

And so on Sept. 3, 1976, the newly formed B'nai Tzedek (which means Children of Justice) held its first service in the United Methodist Church, then barely a decade old. For the next seven years, B'nai Tzedek called the church home. The synagogue's first rabbi, Stephen J. Einstein, even had an office there, where he hung the obligatory mezuzah, a decorative case containing a piece of parchment with a Hebrew phrase from the Torah on it.

B'nai Tzedek eventually raised enough money to open a pristine temple on Talbert Avenue in 1983, where it still is.

When the congregation left the Methodist church, Einstein's office reverted to a community meeting room. But the mezuzah remains.

"I never want it taken down," McFarland said. "It shows that members of all faiths can work together to better the community. I think it is great."

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